Saturday, February 02, 2008

Ignorance of the Law apparently IS a defense

Wesley Snipes claimed he was misinformed by his tax advisers who told him that he didn't have to pay income taxes (yea, right...having $30 million in income might have affected his "willingness" to "believe" this rubbish.)

The jury believed him and acquitted him on the most serious charges. The lesson here is that if you want to avoid serious tax evasion charges you just get some crackpot tax adviser and then tell the jury you believed his crackpot theory.

Mr. Snipes was found not guilty on two felony charges of fraud and conspiracy. He was also acquitted on three misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns or to pay taxes, but was convicted on three others. He faces up to three years in prison.

Mr. Snipes had become an unlikely public face for the tax-denier movement, whose members maintain that Americans are not obligated to pay income taxes and that the government extracts taxes from its citizens illegally.